04/18/2026
Stronger Together: A Women’s Circle of Healing and Empowerment
BACKGROUND
The heart of Northern California’s legendary Fall River Valley, the largest spring creek system on the West Coast, will be the setting for a first-time gathering of a group of dedicated women from Project Healing Waters (PHW) and women’s nonprofit Rising to the Fly. They will convene not just to fish, but to support each other on their journeys and work together to foster a healthy Fall River ecosystem.
Approximately 10 participants and 5 volunteers from the newly established PHW NorCal Sisters on the Rise and Rising to the Fly will gather for a joint outing from May 3-7 this year at the Circle 7 Ranch in Fall River Mills. This trip is an exciting first for many reasons: the first time all the PHW NorCal programs have made a joint trip, the first time a joint trip has been designed specifically to serve women participants, and the first time PHW NorCal has forged a partnership with a sister organization to explore synergies and host non-veteran women as well.
This trip showcases PHW’s strong commitment to cooperation, not competition, between the six regional programs that serve veterans in Northern California: Martinez, Sacramento, San Francisco, Monterey, Chico, and Reno/Tahoe. It also recognizes that women veterans deserve space within PHW to discuss issues that are uniquely theirs and develop approaches that can support women veterans not just to participate, but to thrive in PHW programs.
PHW in Northern California has a solid record of engaging women veterans but recognizes that more can be done. The PHW Program Leads throughout the NorCal region have been champions for women’s engagement in PHW and advocates for a regional Sisters on the Rise effort. “This trip isn’t the end,” says Brian Miller, Program Lead for PHW Martinez, “I hope it’s just the beginning of a women-led effort through NorCal Sisters on the Rise to serve our female veterans.” Overall growth in PHW NorCal programs has been impressive at 82% last year alone, and women’s participation has outpaced that growth. Women now represent 14% of PHW NorCal veterans, more than double the national average. Even so, there is a need to bolster support for ongoing participation. PHW Board Chair and Interim CEO Cindy Kuehner has been a strong proponent of this effort: “With only a few women in each local program, making this a regional effort offers women in our programs an opportunity to develop that critical mass and the connections needed to sustain the work going forward — this is only the first step and we’re excited about the initiatives that will grow from this.”
As one participant put it, “Women veterans are an invisible population” — they have specific needs that are not fully met by efforts designed to serve veterans in general. Program leaders, organizers and participants from both organizations see this trip as a potential springboard for changing that by learning from each other about what has worked and what needs improvement, bringing new approaches to activities that can enhance women’s participation and enrich what they get from the program.
PHW members also dream big about expanding how we think of PHW programs not only as vehicles for healing, but as a steppingstone to independence for women veterans. “We can go beyond helping women veterans heal by empowering them with skills that allow them to be independent fly fishers and even develop second careers — as fly fishing guides, rod-builders, and associated professions,” as one organizer put it. This is an exciting time in the evolution of Project Healing Waters’ programming, and we are thrilled to see women at the forefront.
PHW’s partner for the trip, Rising to the Fly, is a nonprofit organization based in Northern California whose mission is to break down barriers to make fly fishing accessible and inclusive for all women by providing gear, garb and guidance: skills-building programs, fishing equipment, and all the related clothing that make fly fishing out of reach for many women who would like to participate. For them, this trip is an opportunity to share their expertise in women’s fly fishing programming, connect with other women, and think about synergies between the two organizations. “This is a first step for us in thinking about how we grow--how we reach and help more women,” says Temma Roby, the organization’s co-founder.
OBJECTIVES
There are three overarching objectives for the trip—the “Three C’s” of this outing, developed over months of preparatory phone calls among the organizers and participants:
Camaraderie
Outings are the place where the magic really happens. The opportunity for veterans to be together, share the excitement and challenge of fishing, and share their own healing journeys with each other are the heart and soul of what PHW does. Fly fishing is the vehicle, but healing is the goal. Time spent surrounded by the healing power of nature with people who have the shared experience of military service and can bear witness to each person’s struggles and triumphs is irreplaceable in a veteran’s healing journey. This model is lifesaving for many veterans, some of whom have now progressed from participants to become volunteers for the program.
With the addition of the team from Rising to the Fly, they have an opportunity to build wider connections with other women in fly fishing and to see the possibilities for what women-centered programming and leadership can be. For this outing in particular, all the participants and volunteers are looking forward to being face-to-face to talk about the challenges they have faced as women venturing into a heavily male sport and operating in heavily male structures like the military, and how they can support each other and their respective organizations to make this a welcoming space for more women.
Conservation
Finding purpose larger than oneself is an important part of the healing process. To that end, PHW often partners with conservation organizations to give back to the waters that sustain us. On this trip, we will spend one day partnering with California Trout to support their trout migration and population monitoring efforts in the Fall River watershed, a critical piece to understanding how to protect and support fish populations in the years to come.
Participants will get a briefing on the work being done on the two distinct populations of rainbow trout present in the Fall River system and why it is so critical to conservation efforts, visit some of the sources of Fall River’s water where trout come to spawn, and do in-water work with CalTrout and UC Davis scientists to clean and check the equipment used to track trout movement through the system to their spawning grounds. It promises to be a very special day on the river gaining a new appreciation for the uniqueness of this ecosystem.
Catching
Fall River is a bucket list trip for many fly fishers, lured by the challenge of landing a big rainbow on a dry fly in its gin-clear, slow-moving waters, with Mount Shasta as the backdrop. Participants will fish from boats (the only way to access Fall River’s 15 miles of prime wild trout water) for two days with a group of experienced and generous guides. In early May, nymphing will likely remain the most productive strategy, along with streamer fishing and the opportunity for some early dry fly action if the weather cooperates.
The PHW participants on this trip are seasoned fly fishers and the designated PHW NorCal Sisters on the Rise leaders in their respective local chapters. They have gone through a year or more of preparatory activities as part of the PHW program including learning foundational fly fishing, water safety, casting, fly tying, rod building, entomology, and fishing strategies, then participating in outings and building their skills on the water. Active participation in the PHW program is a prerequisite for eligibility, and these six women have shown commitment to their community of veterans and to PHW by showing up for each other.
Rising to the Fly will bring its two co-founders, who are experienced fly fishers and teachers as well as PHW volunteers; their outreach coordinator to help strategize about organizational synergies, and a Rising to the Fly volunteer who is also a U.S. Navy veteran and can relate to the unique needs of women vets.
LOGISTICS
Participants and volunteers will stay together at Circle 7 Ranch, a generous friend of PHW who donated this excellent venue to host the trip. Situated right on the river with two comfortable houses for participants and volunteers, Circle 7 is an ideal spot to rest, reflect, and develop new friendships. We will wrap up this landmark outing with a barbecue dinner to recognize our accomplishments, celebrate new friends and partners, and mark the inaugural phase of PHW NorCal Sisters on the Rise development.
